Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-7qhmt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T11:43:36.726Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

‘If I look old, I will be treated old’: hair and later-life image dilemmas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2010

RICHARD WARD*
Affiliation:
School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
CAROLINE HOLLAND
Affiliation:
Faculty of Health and Social Care, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.
*
Address for correspondence: Richard Ward, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, University of Manchester, The Jean McFarlane Building, University Place, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK. E-mail: Richard.ward@manchester.ac.uk

Abstract

This paper considers the social symbolism of hair, how it is managed and styled in later life, and what attitudes to appearance in general and hairstyling in particular reveal about ageism in contemporary culture. The paper draws on findings from a two-year, nationwide, participative study of age discrimination in the United Kingdom, the Research on Age Discrimination (RoAD) project. Using data collected by qualitative methods, including participant diaries and interviews undertaken by older field-workers, the paper explores narratives of image and appearance related to hair and associated social responses. The paper focuses on older people's accounts of the dual processes of the production of an image and consumption of a service with reference to hairdressing – and the dilemmas these pose in later life. The findings are considered in the context of the emerging debate on the ageing body. The discussion underlines how the bodies of older people are central to their experience of discrimination and social marginalisation, and examines the relevance of the body and embodiment to the debate on discrimination. A case is made for further scrutiny of the significance of hairdressing to the lives of older people and for the need to challenge the assumption that everyday aspects of daily life are irrelevant to the policies and interventions that counter age discrimination and promote equality.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Age Concern England 2006. Haircuts, Books and a Winter Coat: The Real Cost of Dignity in Care. Age Concern England, London.Google Scholar
Ahmed, S. 2004. The Cultural Politics of Emotion. Routledge, New York.Google Scholar
Anderson, K. A., Cimbal, A. M. and Maile, J. J. 2010. Hairstylists' relationships and helping behaviors with older adult clients. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 29, 3, 371–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batchelor, D. 2001. Hair and cancer chemotherapy: consequences and nursing care: a literature study. European Journal of Cancer Care, 10, 3, 147–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bennett, A. 2005. Untold Stories. Faber and Faber, London.Google Scholar
Brownmiller, S. 1984. Femininity. Linden/Simon and Schuster, New York.Google Scholar
Bytheway, B. 2005. Ageism. In Johnson, M. L., Bengston, V. L., Coleman, P. G. and Kirkwood, T. B. L. (eds), Cambridge Handbook of Age and Ageing. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 338–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bytheway, B., Ward, R., Holland, C. and Peace, S. 2007. Too Old: Older People's Accounts of Discrimination, Exclusion and Rejection. Help the Aged, London.Google Scholar
Cohen, R. L. 2010. When it pays to be friendly: employment relations and emotional labour in hairstyling. Sociological Review, 58, 2, 197218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connell, R. W. 1987. Gender and Power: Society, the Person and Sexual Politics. Polity, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Coupland, J. 2003. Ageist ideology and discourses of control in skin care product marketing. In Coupland, J. and Gwyn, R. (eds), Discourse, the Body and Identity. Macmillan Palgrave, London, 127–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coupland, J. 2007. Gendered discourses on the ‘problem’ of ageing: consumerized solutions. Discourse and Communication, 1, 1, 3761.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowen, E. L., Gesten, E. L., Boike, M., Norton, P., Wilson, A. B. and DeStefano, M. A. 1979. Hairdressers as caregivers. 1: A descriptive profile of interpersonal help-giving involvements. American Journal of Community Psychology, 7, 6, 633–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faircloth, C. A. 2003. Different bodies and the paradox of aging: locating aging bodies in images and everyday experiences. In Faircloth, C. A. (ed.), Aging Bodies: Images and Everyday Experience. Altamira, Walnut Creek, California, 126.Google Scholar
Featherstone, M. and Hepworth, M. 1991. The mask of ageing and the post-modern life course. In Featherstone, M., Hepworth, M. and Turner, B. (eds), The Body: Social Process and Cultural Theory. Sage, London, 371–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Featherstone, M. and Hepworth, M. 2005. Images of ageing: cultural representations of later life. In Johnson, M. L., Bengston, V. L., Coleman, P. G. and Kirkwood, T. B. L. (eds), Cambridge Handbook of Age and Ageing. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 354–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Featherstone, M. and Wernick, A. 1995. Introduction. In Featherstone, M. and Wernick, A. (eds), Images of Ageing: Cultural Representations of Later Life. Routledge, London, 116.Google Scholar
Fraser, M. and Greco, M. (eds)2004. The Body: A Reader. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Furman, F. K. 1997. Facing the Mirror: Older Women and Beauty Shop Culture. Sage, New York.Google Scholar
Gerike, A. E. 1990. On gray hair and oppressed brains. In Rosenthal, E. R. (ed.), Women, Aging and Ageism. Harrington Park, New York, 3546.Google Scholar
Gilman, S. L. 1996. Seeing the Insane. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska.Google Scholar
Gimlin, D. 1996. Pamela's place: power and negotiation in the hair salon. Gender and Society, 10, 5, 505–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gullette, M. M. 1997. Declining to Decline: Cultural Combat and the Politics of the Midlife. University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia.Google Scholar
Hall, A., Hockey, J. and Robinson, V. 2007. Occupational cultures and the embodiment of masculinity: hairdressing, estate agency and firefighting. Gender, Work and Organization, 14, 6, 534–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvey, A. M. 2005. Becoming entrepreneurs: intersections of race, class and gender at the black beauty salon. Gender and Society, 19, 6, 789808.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hepworth, M. 2003. Ageing bodies: aged by culture. In Coupland, J. and Gwyn, R. (eds), Discourse, the Body and Identities. Palgrave, London, 89106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higginson, I., Hearn, J. and Myers, K. 2000. Palliative day care: what do services do? Palliative Medicine, 14, 4, 277–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hubbard, G., Cook, A., Tester, S. and Downs, M. 2003. Sexual Expression in Institutional Care Settings: An Interactive Multi-media CDROM. Department of Applied Social Science, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK.Google Scholar
Hurd Clarke, L. and Griffin, M. 2008. Visible and invisible ageing: beauty work as a response to ageism. Ageing & Society, 28, 5, 653–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hurd Clarke, L. and Korotchenko, A. 2010. Shades of grey: to dye or not to dye one's hair in later life. Ageing and Society, 30, 6, 1011–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kang, M. 2003. The managed hand: the commercialization of bodies and emotions in Korean immigrant-owned nail salons. Gender and Society, 17, 6, 820–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, S. 1996. Disciplining Old Age: The Formation of Gerontological Knowledge. University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia.Google Scholar
Lee, T., Jewson, N., Bishop, D., Felstead, A., Fuller, A., Kakavelakis, K. and Unwin, L. 2007. ‘There's a Lot More to it Than Just Cutting Hair You Know’: Managerial Controls, Work Practices and Identity Narratives Among Hair Stylists. Learning as Work Research Paper 8, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK. Available online at http://learningaswork.cf.ac.uk/outputs/Working_Paper_8.pdf [Accessed 6 November 2009].Google Scholar
Lee-Treweek, G. 1997. Women, resistance and care: an ethnographic study of nursing auxiliary work. Work, Employment and Society, 11, 1, 4763.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levenson, R. 2003. Auditing Age Discrimination: A Practical Approach to Promoting Age Equality in Health and Social Care. King's Fund, London.Google Scholar
Lincoln, Y. S. and Guba, E. G. 1985. Naturalistic Inquiry. Sage, Newbury Park, California.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macdonald, B. and Rich, C. 1983. Look Me in the Eye: Old Women, Aging and Ageism. Spinster Ink Books, Denver, Colorado.Google Scholar
McCarthy, M. 2000. Mututally captive audiences: small talk and the genre of close-contact service encounters. In Coupland, J. (ed.), Small Talk. Longman, London, 84109.Google Scholar
McFarquhar, C. and Lowis, M. 2000. The effect of hairdressing on the self-esteem of men and women. Mankind Quarterly, 41, 2, 181–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nettleton, S. and Watson, J. (eds)1998. The Body in Everyday Life. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Nordberg, M. 2005. ‘It's important to make him look and feel masculine’: constructing and designing men, masculinity, heteronormativity and ethnicity in hairdressing. Paper presented to the Interdisciplinary Conference of Fashion and Dress Cultures, Danish School of Design, Copenhagen, 2628 October.Google Scholar
Oberg, P. 2003. Image versus experience of the aging body. In Faircloth, C. A. (ed.), Aging Bodies: Images and Everyday Experience. Altamira, Walnut Creek, California, 103–39.Google Scholar
Paulson, S. 2008. ‘Beauty is more than skin deep’: an ethnographic study of beauty therapists and older women. Journal of Aging Studies, 22, 3, 256–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reed-Danahay, D. 2001. ‘This is your home now’: conceptualizing location and dislocation in a dementia unit. Qualitative Research, 1, 1, 4764.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Renteln, A. D. 2004. Visual religious symbols and the law. American Behavioral Scientist, 47, 2, 1573–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosado, S. D. 2003. No Nubian knots or nappy locks: discussing the politics of hair among women of African decent in the diaspora: a report on research in progress. Transforming Anthropology, 11, 2, 60–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shilling, C. 1993. The Body and Social Theory. Sage, London.Google Scholar
Shilling, C. 2008. Changing Bodies: Habit, Crisis and Creativity. Sage, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sontag, S. 1972. The double standard of aging. Saturday Review of Literature, 55, 39, 2538.Google Scholar
Stevenson, K. 2001. Hairy business: organising the gendered self. In Hassard, J. and Holiday, R. (eds), Contested Bodies. Routledge, London, 137–52.Google Scholar
Symonds, A. and Holland, C. 2008. The same hairdo: the production of the stereotyped image of the older woman. In Ward, R. and Bytheway, B. (eds), Researching Age and Multiple Discrimination. Centre for Policy on Ageing, London, 2644.Google Scholar
Synott, A. 1987. Shame and glory: a sociology of hair. British Journal of Sociology, 38, 3, 381483.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Synott, A. 1993. The Body Social: Symbolism, Self and Society. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Tate, S. A. 2009. Black Beauty: Aesthetics, Stylization, Politics. Ashgate, Farnham, UK.Google Scholar
Toerien, M. and Wilkinson, S. 2003. Gender and body hair: constructing the feminine woman. Women's International Forum, 26, 4, 333–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Twigg, J. 2006. The Body in Health and Social Care. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, UK.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Twigg, J. 2007. Clothing, age and the body: a critical review. Ageing & Society, 27, 2, 285305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ward, R., Jones, R., Hughes, J., Humberstone, N. and Pearson, R. 2008 a. Intersections of ageing and sexuality: accounts from older people. In Ward, R. and Bytheway, B. (eds), Researching Age and Multiple Discrimination. Centre for Policy on Ageing, London, 4572.Google Scholar
Ward, R., Vass, A. A., Aggarwal, N., Garfield, C. and Cybyk, B. 2008 b. A different story: exploring patterns of communication in residential dementia care. Ageing & Society, 28, 5, 629–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weitz, R. 2001. Women and their hair: seeking power through resistance and accommodation. Gender and Society, 15, 5, 667–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, S. B. 2005. Releasing the pursuit of bouncin' and behavin' hair: natural hair as an Afrocentric aesthetic for beauty. International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics, 1, 3, 295308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiesenfeld, A. R. and Weis, H. M. 1979. Hairdressers and helping: influencing the behaviour of informal caregivers. Professional Psychology, 10, 6, 786–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolkowitz, C. 2002. The social relations of body work. Work, Employment and Society, 16, 3, 497510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolkowitz, C. 2006. Bodies at Work. Sage, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodward, K. 1999. Figuring Age: Women, Bodies and Generations. Indiana University Press, Indiana.Google Scholar